Kazakhstan’s champion is the first semifinalist of the UEFA Futsal Champions League 2020/21. In the first quarterfinal match, played in Zadar, Kairat defeated Benfica after overtime 6:2. Kariat won the match even though their star goalkeeper Higuita got a direct red card in 31’ minute and will not play the semifinal match between the team in Barca – Dobovec match that starts at 20:00 CET.
One of the match heroes was young (19 years old) Kairat's goalkeeper Narun Serikov who adequately replaced Higuita on Kairat's goal.
In the first half, we watched quite a tight match that ended 1:1. Both teams played many actions with flying goalkeepers, Higuita on the Kairat's side and Diego Roncaglio on Benfica's side. Benfica managed to neutralize Kairat's possession game and had more attempts on the goal in the first 20 minutes.
However, the biggest chance before the goal had Kairat in 12', but Orazov failed to score from a short distance.
Both first-half goals were scored in 15'. Gadeida took the ball from Roncaglio, Fernandinho took it and passed it back to Gadeia, who scored for Kairat's lead. But, 30 seconds later, Benfica equalized. Jacare found Afonso Jesus on the second post, who scored from the close range.
The first half ended at 1:1, and Benfica had more than double attempts on opponents' goal than Kairat.
Kairat had the first chance in the second half after Douglas Junior stole the ball, but he shot Roncaglio in the face. Kairat had two more great chances in the next minute, but Gadeia shots near the post and Fernandinho over Benfica's goal.
After the initial pressure of Kairat, the match stabilized until the 31' when Edson won the ball against Fabio Cecilio and scored for the second Kairat's lead.
However, a minute later, Kairat's goalkeeper Higuita got a direct red card after a foul on Chiskhala. In a two-minute play with one player more on the parquet, Benfica had several attempts, out of which the best was one of Hossein Tayebi, who hit the post.
Although Benfica failed to score with a player more on the pitch, they equalized 34' when Thiago Brito scored after Robinho's assist.
Benfica had a tremendous chance in 39’! Rafael Henmi was alone in front of young Serikov, hit the post, and Kairat’s defender managed to clear the ball from the line.
The regular part of the match ended 2:2.
The first overtime was without big chances until the last minute when Karait scored for their third lead on the match. Dauren Tursagulov scored a nice goal with his left foot.
In 47’ Arthur made Benfica’s sixth foul, and Gadeia brought Karat on the brink of victory with a shot from 10m.
Benfica started playing with a flying goalkeeper, and Kazakhstan’s team took advantage of that with two goals in the empty net (Fernandingo and Orazov) for the final 6:2.
Kairat will play in the semifinals (Saturday) against the better team in Barca – Dobovec duel (20.00 CET).
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